The world No2, Rafael Nadal, will not play at next year's Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, his traditional warm-up event before Wimbledon, due to the UK's tax demands.

Nadal, who won the tournament in 2008, will instead compete in the Gerry Weber Open at Halle in Germany, where he will receive a reported £750,000. However, he insisted that the appearance fee was not behind his decision, which was instead forced by British tax laws, which oblige foreign athletes to pay tax on their worldwide endorsements.

Nadal told the Times: "I like to play in all the tournaments where they really want me. It is good for tennis. There is a big change in Halle, they have wanted me to be there for the last few years but I really wanted to play in Queen's.

"The truth is, in the UK you have a big regime for tax, it's not about the money for playing. They [HMRC] take from the sponsors, from Babolat, from Nike and from my watches. This is very difficult. I am playing in the UK and losing money. I did a lot more for the last four years, but it is more and more difficult to play in the UK."